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Celebrating St George and the Bard
Elizabeth Hopkirk, Evening Standard23 Apr 2008
London celebrates St George's Day and Shakespeare's 444th birthday today.
The anniversary of the playwright's birth - and, coincidentally, his death - is to be marked this evening when a floating mini Elizabethan theatre will sail down the Thames to the Globe. To honour England's national day, Borough Market is moving to Trafalgar Square for a day-long festival of English food, running from midday to 7.30pm.
It features stalls selling delicacies such as Cornish oysters, Dorset diver-caught scallops, Morecambe Bay shrimps, Westmorland wild boar, Surrey vegetables, Chelsea buns, cheese from Neal's Yard Dairy and bread made in SE16.
Entertainment, much of it with a food theme, will be provided by musical comedy duo Kit and the Widow, Mr Whippy and the Connettes, playing live from an ice cream van, and street theatre entertainers.
Meanwhile, the Globe's floating theatre is to be launched from Butler's Wharf at 6pm, accompanied by musicians and performers, with the theatre itself opening at 7pm for the first night of King Lear.
